5G is Coming "Soon"

I got a call from Windstream in regards to my Better Business Bureau filing. They assured me that advertising products to me that are not available is not false advertising because someone somewhere else can buy those things. What? Uh, liar. When I go to the Windstream web site and type in my address, it ONLY offers me one specific internet connection speed, 15Mbps, and that speed is not available here. They only provide 1.5Mbps where I live. That's why I switched to 4G LTE in the first place. After a decade or more of promising me an upgrade, they never did it. At this time in history 1.5Mbps is too slow for just browsing. Too many sites use autoloading videos and junk like that.

I received a card in the mail from them advertising a 1.6Gbps connection speed when that is not available here or anywhere else. That's almost faster than U.S. 5G and is faster in the majority of places that actually have 5G. That's the definition of false advertising.

Moving on.

Visible sent me an email this week. In part it said,

"We’re excited to announce that Visible is launching 5G for compatible iPhones in the coming weeks, with compatible Android devices to follow. At launch, 5G will offer speeds up to 200 Mbps and be available for Visible members on iPhone 12 where Verizon 5G coverage is available."

I assume "in the coming weeks" means January. The price will remain $25/month for those on the Party Plan and $40/month for those who don't join the Party Plan. From the wording on their web site, it's possible to infer that at some point they'll offer full 5G for a higher price. Visible is owned by Verizon, so I completely expect that. Having 5G coming would change things a little bit. It should be faster than the 4G LTE internet I have now, although distance from the tower concerns me. Also, there's no telling when 5G will get to my area. It's supposed to be by the end of 2021, but that's based on a pre-Covid rollout schedule by Verizon. By the way, when 5G arrives here, so does Verizon's $70/month 5G internet service. I'm interested.

So, if I have 4G LTE, why was I looking at Windstream's DSL offerings? Even though the 15Mbps they advertise here is slower then 4G LTE, it would have had important advantages. It's always on. 4G LTE isn't, although it's usually impossible to tell the difference. The second advantage is that I wouldn't have to charge a cell phone to get internet. Right now, I have a 5,000mAh phone on Visible that I use only for internet. 5,000mAh is impressive, but it still needs recharging. I can't leave it on all the time unless I leave it on the charger all the time. I'm not willing to do that until the battery is shot. That means I only use the Hotspot feature when I'm online which means that I can't use my Google Home minis or my smart devices unless I'm online. That's annoying.

Another advantage of DSL would be running my Roku streaming sticks at any time. 15MBps would let me do that at 1080p and still leave bandwidth over for normal internet things. And it would be always on. If I want to watch television on Roku now, I have to make sure my phone is charged enough and set up a Hotspot connection. At the present I use the 5,000mAh phone for internet and my 3,200mAh personal cell phone for Roku. That's more convenient, and it lets me split the data load. Visible is a cell phone company not an internet company, so I try not to go nuts with data. I talked to a rep that said it doesn't matter how much I use, but I'm familiar enough with the industry to still be cautious.

Another advantage DSL would have had would be not having to buy a 5G phone. Prices are coming down but not fast enough. Using DSL for a year while waiting on 5G to arrive in my area and waiting for more and cheaper 5G phone to become available made sense. In addition, Verizon's 5G internet plan would make having a 5G phone no longer necessary. There are other things I don't have time to go into. This post is too long already. Long story short, always on internet is really helpful for this part-time online business idea I'm preparing to launch next year. More about that later if I can get it going and be successful with it.

Have a great weekend.